


Script for a Ten Page Comic

by psocoptera



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Graduation, M/M, Script Format, The Narrative - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-26
Updated: 2016-02-26
Packaged: 2018-05-23 08:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6111475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psocoptera/pseuds/psocoptera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why *is* Johnson at graduation, anyways?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Script for a Ten Page Comic

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't resist getting in on the "fic between 2.17 and 2.18" fun.

Script for a Ten Page Comic

Page ONE (One Panel)

JACK runs along the river path, past a PARK BENCH (reference 1.14). His graduation gown billows behind him. In the background, a young woman in a graduation gown is standing with her mother. The mother is looking at her watch.

Page TWO (Two Panels)

Panel One - JACK runs onto the BRIDGE (reference 2.5). We see Jack from behind. Ahead of him on the bridge, a brown-haired young man in a grayish-blue suit is leaning against the railing, his face out of the frame at the right. (It is JOHNSON.)

Panel Two - POV 180 - now we see JOHNSON from behind and JACK head-on. JOHNSON has stepped away from the railing and they are posed a bit like a Western showdown. JACK looks surprised.

JACK: Johnson?

Page THREE (Two Panels)

Panel One (full page) - zoomed way out. JACK (left) and JOHNSON (right) face each other in profile on the bridge, blue sky and clouds behind them.

JOHNSON: Narrative's a bitch, eh?

Panel Two (small inset) - close up of JACK's profile, looking baffled.

JACK: Sorry?

Page FOUR (One Panel)

The page is so crowded with a maze of connected speech bubbles that JOHNSON is mostly obscured. We can see his mouth, and one of his hands, which seems to be gesturing to to the bubble nearest it.

JOHNSON: Some might call this a cheap move. A deus ex machina, or maybe a diabolus ex machina, because I'm not exactly saving the day here. I like to think of myself as more of a Chekhov's gun, because after all, I've been here since the beginning. May 17th, "here for narrative purposes".

BUBBLE FROM OFFSCREEN LEFT: That was yesterday.

JOHNSON: Ish. For a semester that was going to go by fast, it's kind of taken awhile. You certainly waited long enough to hear the music. Face the music? Something like that. And that's the problem, really. Can't have you resolving all this delicious tension when you've only just stumbled into it. That shit's gotta get aged like the kind of good liquor nobody in this comic drinks. Or. Well. Even I don't know for sure what's in the tub juice. But probably nothing good.

JOHNSON: You also may have noticed a running motif of false dilemmas. Sweaters or pie, attic or roaches, Holster or Ransom. And all the choices! Which team? Whose dibs? You, my friend, you think you just made a choice, but running across campus Benjamin Braddock-style doesn't really satisfy the expectation that's been built.

Page FIVE (Three Panels, two above one, solid-color background.)

Panel One - JACK looks alarmed, eyes pale, pupils small. We've seen a similar look before (1.20, 2.7).

Panel Two - JACK's brows lower, he sets his jaw, determined.

Panel Three - More determined and vaguely heroic frowning. This is the panel everyone's going to use for icons.

JACK: I have no idea what you're talking about.

JACK: Really. None.

JACK: But I need to go. (ital)Now.(/ital) Are you going to try to stop me?

Page SIX (Two Panels, divided diagonally.)

Panel One - POV looking down from directly above, JACK still facing off with JOHNSON, left and right respectively as before.

JOHNSON: I'm trying to (ital)help(/ital) you, Jack, I'm explicating your plot. And it could be worse, would you want the (ital)other(/ital) character with no Watsonian reason to attend your graduation involved? Your new boss?

Panel Two - Same POV, but JOHNSON has moved next to JACK.

But no, not stopping you, we can walk! (in smaller font) Honestly, five pages standing in place was three more than you'd ever see in canon, that was some serious "22 Panels" nonsense.

Page SEVEN (Two Panels)

Panel One - JACK and JOHNSON walk next to a fence. JACK is at the left of the panel, JOHNSON at the right, turning back over his shoulder. He is cut off by the edge of the panel so we only just see the edge of his profile (nose, chin, a bit of hair).

JOHNSON: The thing is, Jack, your father sent you here to (ital)say goodbye(/ital). Not start something impossible. But to really understand in your heart that you're done here.

Panel Two - Now JACK is at the right of the panel, turning back to look at JOHNSON, who is, again, mostly off-panel, this time on the left. Behind them, the end of the fence and the start of some bushes or something.

JACK: He said you miss the shots you don't take.

Page EIGHT (Two Panels)

Panel One - JOHNSON from behind, JACK head-on, looking down a suburban street. The HAUS (1.4) is visible in the distance behind JACK.

JOHNSON: You're going to Providence, Jack. Time already ran out.

Panel Two - same composition. A white van has pulled up in front of the Haus.

JOHNSON: You can't be late for George's reservation. Are you really going to choose to risk that?

Page NINE (Two Panels)

Panel One - same composition as previous page. BITTY is walking from the Haus to the white van, dragging his suitcase (2.17). JACK looks over his shoulder longingly.

JACK: ...

Panel Two - same composition. Yes, this is very static. It happens sometimes. BITTY is climbing into the van.

JACK: (smaller font) What if I made time.

Page TEN (Two Panels)

Panel One - JACK is a passenger in a nice car, seatbelt on. He is looking down at his phone and blushing slightly.

BUBBLE INDICATING TEXT ON PHONE: I get a break in my summer training, any interest in a guest in July?

Panel Two - mirror image of panel one. BITTY is a passenger in a van, seatbelt on, also looking down at his phone, smiling, and blushing slightly.

BITTY: This boy.

BONUS PAGE (One Panel)

JOHNSON and LARDO lie on a bed, seen from above. JOHNSON has his arm up, pointing at something; it blocks most of his face. LARDO is squinting a little, holding a joint and breathing out a small curl of smoke.

JOHNSON: See, right there. The border? That's how we know we're in-panel. Once you see them you can usually spot them.

LARDO: Huh. Whoa. This is one hell of a trip, J.

JOHNSON: Someone's going to have to cockblock those morons or we're never going to make it to a fourth season, and there's only so often I can plothole in.

LARDO: Huh.


End file.
